In photos, as in life, sometimes being out of focus is o.k.

In the past two months, Scott and I have seen the Golden Gate Bridge from afar and up close during our weekend staycations.

I took this photo of the bridge’s north tower when Scott and I went flying in December with Scott’s former colleague Jim, who is an amateur pilot. Instead of exchanging Christmas presents, Scott and I pooled our fun money and asked Jim to take us flying. Jim is a member of the Alameda Aero Club, so we took off from the Oakland Airport‘s North Field in a Cessna Skyhawk which we had rented from the club. It was a calm and sunny day. We had a clear view of San Francisco, and of landmarks such as the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory above UC Berkeley, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Point Reyes National Seashore. At one point, Jim let Scott take control of the plane – I held my breath and focused on taking photos of the scenery below! We landed at the Petaluma Municipal Airport where there were several small planes parked on the airport apron, including a shiny old Royal Canadian Air ForceBeechcraft Model 18. We ate lunch at the Two-Niner Diner. The diner’s name refers to runway 29, which is nearby. Despite our ideal flying conditions, I felt a wee bit nauseated so I was happy to settle my stomach with a delicious lunch of salad, chicken-fried steak, and blueberry coffee cake. After lunch, we flew back to the East Bay.

In January, Scott and I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on a Saturday afternoon. First, we took BART into San Francisco and had fancy dim sum at Hakkasan to carbo-load before our seven-mile (11 km) hike. I’m not sure how many carbs are in Hakkasan’s famous crispy duck salad; I needed exercise after eating it! After lunch, we took UBER to the Presidio, a park and former military base that is part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. We walked through a beautiful eucalyptus grove called Lovers’ Lane, snacked on macarons and Bavarian cream at the Walt Disney Family Museum, watched the sunlight and shadows of trees dance across the tombstones at the San Francisco National Cemetery, and took some selfies when we arrived at the bridge before sunset. Heavy traffic made the walk across the bridge noisy and somewhat chaotic, but crossing the bridge on foot enabled us to touch the International Orange paint that protects the bridge from corrosion. The bridge’s architect Irving Morrow chose the paint color to complement the landscape and enhance the bridge’s visibility in fog. The Sisyphean task of maintaining the bridge’s paint job is the work of 38 painters. Once we crossed the bridge, we put on our headlamps and power-walked in the dark to Sausalito so that we wouldn’t miss the ferry back to San Francisco. At the Ferry Building, we had a wonderful Vietnamese dinner at The Slanted Door before we went home on BART.